Exhausted teachers
might react with a whimper of, "Oh, no. How could I do more?"

Working parents
might think, "Could be a solution to all my day care problems."

Government officials
who know little of educational theory might assume, "Good. More time
in school will automatically increase test scores."

Taxpayers (all
of the above, with the exception of the students) will wonder, "But where
would the money come from?"

THE CURRENT CONVERSATION

Most school years
entail 180 days for students.

Much talk has
been spent on

1. extending that
school year

2. extending the
school day

3. the need for
remediation and summer school

4. inability of
students to retain competency over the long summer break

SO HARD TO THINK
OUTSIDE THE BOX

What about considering
HOW we structure those 180 days?

What if we think
of new ways to use the already legislated time?

What if we are
not talking about those overcrowded schools that already use a year round
schedule to stagger the semesters? That is merely a stopgap measure.
It affects the school community, student friendships, and causes havoc
among families with children attending different schools.

What if we are
not talking about doing more of the same old thing... if the same old thing
is not working well?

A PARTICULAR VISION
OF YEAR ROUND SCHOOLS

• Four 9-10 week
marking periods would make up the official school year, allowing for calendar
mandated holidays, to total the present 180 day school year.

• Separating each
quarter would be a two to three week break.

• Summer vacation
would be slightly longer than three weeks, depending on whatever extra
days were not needed to make up for the unexpected (blizzard, power failures,
hurricanes, etc.)

ENRICHMENT AND
REMEDIATION

Part of this vision
sees the schools as a community resource that would be open all year.

Students who do
not achieve their learning goals during the regular sessions, would be
able to get special tutoring during the three week breaks. They would
be able to keep up with their peers so much more easily.

Students with
special interests would be able to find enrichment opportunities and mini-courses
during the three week breaks.

Sports, music,
drama, art studio, and other workshops would be available. Science
projects could be ongoing. Computer labs and the school library would
be supervised whenever the schools were open. Special activities,
performances, and theme programs could be available.

Workshops in test
taking skills could/should be held for some students.

Students still
would be able to vacation with families or to attend camp, with more flexibility
than they have now.

Senior citizen
volunteers could provide an enormous contribution during these three week
sessions, and students would not be pulled out of regular classes for special
tutoring. Many mentoring relationships could be fostered during this
time.

Teacher workshops
and professional development would be done during this time, not at the
end of full teaching days.

Standardized testing
would be done during this time, not during teaching time.

WHAT PEOPLE DON'T
REALIZE ABOUT THE 180 DAY SCHOOL YEAR

I believe the
public would be horrified to find out how many intrusions prevent the classroom
teacher from real time on task and time on learning new material and exploring
new ideas.

A teacher plans
a test? A fire drill interrupts it.

A teacher is in
the middle of a lesson? Someone knocks on the door for one of a thousand
reasons (parent outside, student sent in from another class for discipline,
administrator has a question, main office needs a piece of paperwork, student
being dismissed is asking for assignments, student is late....it's endless).

A teacher plans
a three day project? An assembly is called.

A teacher finds
out at the last minute that half the class is going on a field trip, or
has an extended band rehearsal, or is being excused early because of a
sporting event.

Pep rallies are
held for upcoming standardized testing. Days, sometimes weeks of
class time is spent practicing solely for standardized tests, at the expense
of interactive learning, questioning, projects. Hours and hours of
filling in bubble sheets are not hours spent learning.

These intrusions
range from loud speaker announcements at unpredictable times to pull out
programs that prevent an entire class learning material that a teacher
is presenting.

The accommodations
that a regular classroom teacher must make during the course of a day should
be solely for the student's benefit. Not for the office, not for
the administration, not for the guidance counselor, not for the fund raising
company representatives, not for photographers, and not for eye, ear, and
posture exams.

SUMMARY

We should commit
to the following ideas:

1. That classroom
time is for class work, and an activity period should be part of every
school day.

2. That our allotted
180 school days can be restructured in a much more efficient and realistic
way.

3. And yes, you
would have to increase the per diem salary of teachers who opt to or must
work during some of those interim weeks.

The
Irascible Professor comments: Beverly's vision for year-round schooling
is interesting. The school year in the United States is shorter than
in many industrialized countries. However, as Ms. Lucey has noted,
the effective school year in the U.S. is much shorter than 180 days because
of all the interruptions. Perhaps her plan would allow the schools
to reserve the 180 days for fundamental academic instruction, while placing
the "other stuff" in the breaks. Hmm. That might encourage
folks to look closely at the "other stuff".